Calif. GOP rejects divisive open primary plan (By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press, Bakersfield Now.com) California Republicans on Sunday approved a compromise that leaves in place the current nominating system for GOP candidates in 2012 and will let party members use mail-in balloting to endorse candidates for office starting in 2014.

California GOP struggles with internal strife (Joe Garofoli,Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle) Republicans, believing that the system could "disenfranchise" them in a state where they are vastly outnumbered, looked for a way for the party to influence the process.

The GOP searches for relevance post-Proposition 14 (Opinion L.A. - OPED by Jon Healey, LA Times) You might argue that the pre-primary is, as Mehta and Reston put it, "a sweeping end-run around the spirit" of the new primary system. (I'm still trying to figure out how one would run around a spirit, but I digress.) But what are the parties supposed to do in a new system that essentially amounts to a general election and a runoff?

California GOP rejects divisive open primary plan (By JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press, Mercury News) The party was beset by infighting during its weekend spring convention in Sacramento over how to respond to Proposition 14, the voter-approved ballot measure that was intended to produce more moderate candidates for office from both political parties. Under that system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. The GOP delegates on Sunday passed a plan that calls on the party to let members vote by mail to nominate candidates, starting in 2014. It was unclear how the vote-by-mail process will occur, how much it will cost or whether it will have any real effect on campaigns by discouraging other Republicans from aggressively contesting primary seats.

Marin Voice: Open primaries are coming (By Richard Rubin, Guest op-ed column, Marin Independent Journal) The landscape is strewn with the carcasses of political parties, beginning with the Federalists in 1789 led by Alexander Hamilton, which pretty much vanished by the War of 1812. Between its founding and now, no less than 116 parties have hoisted their standards. Not all fielded candidates. Many lasted only a few years. About 50 survive today, but few of any note.

Calif. Republicans debate future amid budget drama (AP -- San Francisco Chronicle) Another proposal, introduced by Nehring, would let party leaders officially endorse Republican candidates ahead of primaries. It is an attempt to blunt the impact of Proposition 14, the voter-approved measure that allows the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Opponents of Nehring's plan, including nearly all Republicans in the state's congressional delegation and Legislature, say it would disenfranchise Republican voters and cut off funding for candidates who survive the primary but did not win the party's official endorsement.

Republicans should listen to Kevin McCarthy (By Judy Lloyd, Co-owner of Altamont Solutions, Fox & Hounds Daily) California’s highest ranking Congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy has become active in this debate. He is co-sponsoring a measure with State Senate Leader Bob Dutton and Assembly Leader Connie Conway. The plan focuses on the principle that Republican voters should decide who their nominees are – not party insiders.

Contra Costa Times Readers' Forum: GOP voters should pick party nominees (By Judy Lloyd, Inside Bay Area - Oakland Tribune) California's highest-ranking congressional Republican, Kevin McCarthy, has become active in this debate. He is co-sponsoring a measure with state Senate Leader Bob Dutton and Assembly Leader Connie Conway. The plan focuses on the principle that Republican voters should decide who their nominees are -- not party insiders.

INDEPENDENT REDISTRICTING PROCESS ON THE LINE - VIRGINIA'S EXAMPLE

The rigged redistricting process (By Thomas E. Mann and and Norman J. Ornstein, EDITORIAL Washington Post) Voters are supposed to choose their representatives, but the flawed redistricting process in our nation too often allows representatives to choose their voters. This rigged game is in full flower in Virginia, which has an accelerated redistricting process this year because elections for its House of Delegates and Senate take place in November. State Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D) was stunningly candid in a recent radio interview in describing the process politicians would follow to redraw the lines.

1 comment:

This is actually one of my biggest problems with the passage of prop 14. Right after it passed, I crunched the numbers in a post at Poli-Tea and showed that though prop 14 passed with 54% of the vote, voter turnout was very low, as per usual in a primary election. That 54% of the vote was equal to just 12% of registered voters in the state!